The present invention in general concerns a board for playing games, and in particular is directed to a game board adapted to provide a target surface for playing pieces to be thrown thereat.
Skill games which incorporate the tossing of rings, discs, sacks or the like towards a scoring opening or a board having differentiated scoring areas have been popular for many years. In general, such toss-type skill games involve the throwing of a designated playing piece or pieces towards a target surface, or particular areas or openings thereof. Often the objects and rules of a particular game vary somewhat in dependence on the configuration or structure of the target surface itself.
Examples of U.S. patents disclosing various skill games involving the tossing of a playing piece include:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. INVENTOR(S) DATE OF ISSUE ______________________________________ 4,392,653 Blume, Sr. July, 1983 4,243,229 Huser et al. January, 1981 4,204,682 Brown May, 1980 3,749,401 Hayko July, 1973 3,628,793 Mudloff December, 1971 2,050,914 Anderson August, 1936 324,189 Thomas August, 1885 ______________________________________
In general, each patent discloses various features and structure considered by its respective inventor(s) to hold particular advantages. For example, Anderson discloses a game board supported on legs secured thereto with socketed bearing arrangements. Some of such legs have springs therearound to resiliently support the game board for accepting the shock or jarring caused by tossed discs striking the playing surface. Also, ring-like grooves formed on the playing surface to designate scoring areas are countersunk beneath the playing surface to avoid damage to such scoring area designations through normal contact during play with discs or rings tossed thereat.
Mudloff provides another example of a toss game with particular features, wherein two wedge-shaped half-sections (which separable may serve as two targets) are assembled with suitcase-type fasteners for transportation and for storage of playing piece sand bags inside the assembled box-like structure.
While some games provide an unimproved (eg. flat) surface as an alternative or apron landing area for tossed playing pieces adjacent a primary scoring target (i.e. an opening, cup or the like), such games can prove frustrating to players since it may be relatively difficult to provide controlled placement of the thrown playing piece adjacent but not in the primary scoring area. Even if the smooth or unimproved landing area is disposed at an angle of rest to the incoming playing pieces, such pieces can slide and bounce considerably from their original point of impact (even to the point of falling off the target area). Such difficulty is exacerbated as the distance between the player and the target increases. While some fortune or elements of chance are nearly always involved, players prefer and have a greater sense of enjoyment for toss games where there respective skills may be challenged and competitively compared.
However, it would be generally undesirable in some instances to provide a game board to which tossed objects stuck completely and exactly at the point where they landed. For example, in certain games great excitement and challenge arises if subsequent throws by different players are permitted to hit and dislodge previous thrown pieces from favorable scoring areas.